Yearning To Be Free
by LisaB1991
Summary: A 'What If' scenario: AU where the storytelling part was actually real. Truly is promised to another man, a man she does not love. Will Caractacus and Truly find their true love at last? Rated T just to be sure.


**A/N:** I recently saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the first time - and I instantly fell in love with it. It was clear from the first scene they shared that Truly and Caractacus were meant to be, but I was very disappointed with certain choices the creative team had made! Making the entire Lovely Lonely Man and Vulgaria a mere part of the story Caractacus tells them at the car! I choose to ignore canon, and act like everything that happened between the beginning of the storytelling, until their return from Vulgaria, was actually real. From then on, I choose to ignore canon even further, but you'll find that out quite soon.

Please note that English is not my first language, and all mistakes are mine. This piece is slightly more serious than the original movie - with the addition of some next level romance. I'd love to read your reviews!

* * *

It was an early Monday morning, and to any outsider who would just happen to pass through the small English village near the sea, it would have seemed to be just a regular Monday morning – like every other Monday mornings. Little did they know that the entire town was buzzing with activity, for today was a very special day. Two people were to be joined in Holy Matrimony. And it wasn't just any other couple. No, on the contrary!

Today was the day that Miss Truly Scrumptious would become Lady Crumbleton, the wife of Sir Cookie D. Crumbleton, Bart., a fellow business partner of Lord Scrumptious, the young bride's father. The Baronet, a man twice her age and as round and dull as one can imagine, had invested some of his money into the Scrumptious Factory a long time ago, and it had pleased Lord Scrumptious, who was always ready to reciprocate, to give his good friend his blessing and, naturally, his daughter's hand in marriage.

For a long time Lord Scrumptious had feared that his only child and daughter would never marry. The girl had many social responsibilities, and had been the most important _debutante_ of her year. She knew many men, all of them had been enamored with the gorgeous blonde, even some of them had had the nerve to ask her father for her hand in marriage! But alas, none of them had actually caught her eye. They were either too dull, or too boyish, or too proud. It was only logical for her father to fret about a future without any grandchildren, because his daughter was his sole heir, and without any further offspring, the factory and Scrumptious fortune would be lost!

And thus he was glad to actually have his good friend, which he had known for most of his adolescent life, ever since they met at Eton College all those years ago, ask his permission to marry his daughter, as a _quid pro quo_ ; if anything, Lord Scrumptious was a true man of honor. He himself had been married to a woman his parents had picked out for him – it was only natural that his daughter's marriage would be an arranged one as well, because she obviously failed to find true love herself. The times of being picky when it came to a life partner were over. And who knew, perhaps his daughter and future son-in-law would, eventually, fall in love, just like he and Truly's mother had.

A freshly mown lawn, balloons everywhere, a small stage for the minister and happy couple to stand on, twenty-five rows of chairs on each side of the aisle, the gazebo adorned with flowers.. everything was perfect. Even the weather was nice, especially for the English countryside at this time of year!

But the bride wasn't so happy as people actually expected her to be. Miss Truly Scrumptious, grumpiest bride ever. She stood in her bedroom, facing her floor-to-ceiling mirror, twirling and twirling, looking pointedly at her reflection. Surely, the wedding gown was splendid, the late Edwardian era dress doing great justice to Truly's slim figure. The ivory sash around her waist, along with the beautiful fine lace on the neckline of the off-the-shoulder style gown gave it a romantic feeling. But Truly didn't have romantic feelings towards her betrothed – on the contrary!

Truly's maid, Clarice, had curled her hair to perfection, then had pulled it up into an elaborate pompadour, with a single white rose adorning it. Truly's veil, which was to be draped around the small tiara in Truly's hair, had carefully been laid across the back of a chair.

With a sigh Truly took her eyes away from her reflection in the mirror. Clarice, who had been more of a confidante and friend instead of "just" a maid, stood watching her, her hands clasped in front of her, but her head slightly tilted, her lips pursed. She had known Truly for all her life – she was initially hired to work as a maid for the late Lady Scrumptious. But the poor woman had died in childbirth, and since then Clarice had made it her life's mission to ensure that her late ladyship's daughter would want for nothing, as long as she was there.

"You know, for a young woman who is about to get married, you look awfully much like a thundercloud," she remarked, her eyes never leaving her young mistress. To this, Truly reacted quite dramatically, throwing her hands in the air, her eyes full of tears.

"How can I live through this day when I am about to undergo the biggest mistake in my entire life?" she exclaimed, as she began pacing up and down. "Father wants me to marry a man I hardly know, a man who is twice my age! How can he do such a thing to me!"

Clarice made a movement to come closer in order to comfort her, but decided not to. When a Scrumptious was in one of their tempers, it was best not to interfere. But perhaps she had to try to talk some sense into the girl, she thought.

"Your father only wants what is best for you, dear," she reasoned, but it was not enough.

"If he truly wanted that, he would let me choose someone else, and let me marry the man I love," Truly snorted, who was fuming with rage right now.

"But honey, who knows, you might actually learn to love your husband in time. Remember your parents had an arranged marriage, and that worked out just fine,"

"That may be so, Clarice, but I want more than that!"

Clarice shook her head, recalling a time not so long ago, when Truly turned men down on a nearly daily basis. "What has gotten into you, Truly? You've changed so much during the past few days."

Truly stopped in her tracks, and a loving smile appeared on her face, a dreamy, far away look in her eyes. "I met someone.."

Her maid gasped. "Miss Truly Scrumptious! You're in love!"

"Oh, yes!" Truly exclaimed, rapidly sitting down in a nearby chair, her eyes shining. "I believe I am, Clarice. I've never been in love before in my life, but I believe I am now."

The veil, which had been lying across the back of the chair, was saved just in time by Clarice, as Truly, unaware of the fragile fabric, leaned backwards against the back of the chair.

"Out with it then, girl. Who is the lucky chap?"

Clarice had never been one for tittle-tattle, especially not when it concerned her mistress or her mistress's family. Young Miss Truly had more than once been the subject of conversation among the servants in the past, because for an upper class girl she was awfully free spirited, refusing to change for one of her father's formal dinners, and very vocal about her displeasure of being spoiled so much when others weren't. But this time, it ought to be good, if the young girl had found love at last – and what harm would it be if she heard it first hand? Clarice kneeled at Truly's feet, prompting the young woman to continue by lightly touching her knee. Clarice's eyes were fixed upon the pretty little face of her mistress, and found to her delight that the girl hardly noticed her! Her mind was clearly somewhere else, and it filled Clarice with joy.

"Oh he's not a chap Clarice, he's a _man_. A true man, a lovely man who couldn't care less about what others think of him. He follows his own course, facing the winds as proudly as only he can, and he'll surely amaze you with the opposite when you believe he won't succeed. I remember when I first met him – I thought he was mad and tried to talk some sense into the man, but he wouldn't hear anything of it, and I was quite sure he would kill himself eventually. That obviously didn't happen, and when I saw him the next day, in father's factory, he stunned me with his unexpected success. He himself still seemed a bit surprised about it, despite his confidence the other day. Still, things didn't quite go as planned, but a few days later he invited me to ride along with him to the beach, where we had a picnic.."

"It was that day when I realized I loved him. His behavior, so relaxed, he was so much at ease. And even though I had known the man for only a day, I was sure that he was the one for me. After a glorious afternoon he drove me home, and said he hoped he'd see me again. It was the day Mr. Coggins towed out my car from the pond, do you remember?"

Clarice sighed a happy sigh, secretly marveling in the romance. Of course she did remember the day Miss Truly had been driven home by a stranger she had refused to name, because she had accidentally steered her car into the pond, to prevent a collision with an oncoming car. Clarice had suspected it had something to do with that mysterious stranger, but despite her car being wet and smelly, Truly had seemed extraordinary cheerful after she got home, with shining eyes and a face splitting smile on her pink lips, Clarice had failed then to put two and two together, but now she finally knew the reason!

"I do remember, dear. And I believe this wasn't the only trip you made with him, now was it?"

"Oh no Clarice," Truly grinned, "on the contrary. He picked me up the day after, and we went for a ride again. It was only after a few minutes when we realized his father had been kidnapped," Truly halted for a moment when she heard Clarice's audible gasp of horror. "Why yes, it turned out the abductors had mistaken the father for the son actually, but all is well now. Or so I believe.." Truly's eyes glazed over, and her smile vanished. "Anyhow, we rescued his father and returned home the following morning. He then made it very clear we had no future together, and I haven't seen him since."

Clarice shook her head slightly, trying to catch up with the rapid turn of events. It was clear Truly wasn't interested in talking about the last part, hence the rush. But if he had taken her out various times, it was quite improbable he had suddenly changed his mind about her, wasn't it? After all, if what Truly had told her was true, she had even assisted in rescuing the man's poor father! And Clarice knew for a fact that Truly wasn't someone who would fall head over heels in love with just anyone, that much was clear.

"Darling.. Are you absolutely _sure_ that he feels that way?"

Truly smiled a humorless smile at the question. "Why yes, I do. He made it very clear he found it a rather ridiculous idea when the children suggested we marry.."

"C-children? You never mentioned he had children!"

"Yes, he has two, a boy and a girl. Jeremy and Jemima. Their mother died when they were little."

"You mean the Potts children? Truly Scrumptious, are you saying that you have fallen in love with that eccentric loner, the inventor who lives on the hilltop across the pond?"

Truly blinked once, twice at the slight sound of vehemence in Clarice's voice. Not that she blamed the woman. It was true that Caractacus Potts was an eccentric, and he couldn't be considered to be quite a catch, mostly because of the fact that the Potts family was living in relative poverty. It was a fact that Truly was more than willing to overlook because of her love for him and his two children, but at the same time it was quite impossible to ignore. Though her heart was screaming at her to follow its lead, her mind knew Caractacus had been right; they came from different worlds, and that was not just some tiny detail you could simply brush aside. Had their situation been the other way around, if she had been the one to live in poverty, while he was an upper class gentleman, she was quite positive her father would have had absolutely no problem with them marrying – because the man would be sure of his daughter being well taken care of. But the facts were that, if in an ideal world Lord Scrumptious would give them his blessing, it would actually be Truly's allowance that would probably support them. And she knew instinctively that Caractacus would not have wanted that. The realization made Truly feel so sad, words couldn't possibly describe how miserable she felt.

"He is a genius Clarice," she then answered with confidence. "And if given the chance, I would elope with him and live happily ever after, far away from here." It was true – had she not been promised to another man, she would have been ready to leave all this luxury and comfort behind, to trade it for a more simple life. But duty and honor ordered her to remain where she was – and face a life of utter unhappiness, put away in a golden cage, with nothing but passionate dreams of what could have been to please her.

Clarice pitied the young woman. She herself had been madly in love in her younger years – but he went off to war and never returned. If only she could find this Professor Potts and talk some sense into the man.. Perhaps he could stop the wedding after all! But all this was just wishful thinking; the wedding was in less than an hour, and there was still so much left to do! Trying her best to comfort Truly, she patted her knee before rising to her feet, her hand stretched out to help Truly up. "Come now my dear, we have to get your ready. In the meantime, we'll think of something, alright?"

Truly's sniffing halted for a split second, as she whispered, "What can we do, Clarice? It's no use! It's been decided, I can't go back. There's nothing you and I can do about it."

Just then, a childish whisper came from the balcony. "Truly? Truly are you there?" Truly bristled at the sound of the voice, her eyes large with bewilderment. "Jemima, is that you?" Truly called out, as she quickly made her way across the room towards the balcony.

Clarice beat her to it and shrieked. A young girl was about to topple over and fall down! Instinctively she burst forward, arms outstretched and hands grabbing, capturing the girl's small hands just in time. "Oh you miserable child!," she exclaimed, "what on earth were you thinking? You could have just used the front door you know."

Jemima shrugged, obviously unaware of the grave danger she had put herself in. "It was nothing Miss, but we figured we'd better take the short cut when we heard you speaking from the window," she blonde girl explained, an innocent smile on her face. "But if you'll excuse me, I have to help my brother now," she mumbled, as she turned her back on Clarice, moving back to the stone balcony railing. Truly, finally overcoming her surprise at finding the young girl on her balcony, emerged from her room, witnessing how Jemima, with great ease, leaned down to grab her brother's hand and pulled him up, with a little help from Clarice.

"Now children," Truly said as both children stood before her, catching their breaths with their hands on their knees, "it was a very brash decision of yours to climb all the way up here. Instead, you could have called out for me, and Clarice would have come to get you through the front door from down there."

"We understand Truly, and we're sorry," they spoke in unison, their eyes now fixed on the beautiful woman before her.

"Then promise me you'll never, ever do this again!" The children nodded, a crestfallen look on their childish faces.

"So is it true, then? Are you really getting married today?" Jeremy's voice sounded even smaller, as he continued, "but you didn't even come to say goodbye."

Truly then had to take a deep breath and bite her lip to prevent the tears from falling. Oh how she loved those children, and how she longed to see those joyful smiles on their beautiful faces again. She envisioned the four of them then, in this exact same room, Clarice helping Truly getting ready for the wedding, as the latter spun around in her wedding dress in front of the children, who were dressed in their finest, and they clapped and they cheered. Downstairs, at the foot of the staircase, her father would be waiting for her to come down, and walk her down the aisle, the Potts children striding down the aisle in front of them; Jeremy would carry a small pillow with the wedding rings, and Jemima would be the flower girl. And there, at the end of the aisle, her love would be waiting for her, his handsome face nearly bursting with the proud smile he wore as he watched his family walk towards him. Her father would happily give his daughter away to the genius inventor, and the entire ceremony would pass in a haze, while her eyes are fixed on his, and only his. Because his would be fixed on hers. And he would make her his, and it would be like a dream come true. Which was just what it was. A dream.

"Oh sweethearts," Truly said, quite proud of the fact that her voice sounded quite steady, "just because I am getting married today, doesn't mean I'll never see you again," she then knelt down and held her arms open to them. The children immediately responded by embracing her, their heads pressed against her breast, eyes closed as tears rolled down their cheeks. Truly held them close to her, sniffing and pressing tender kisses in their hair, while whispering tender words of nonsense in their ears. Clarice witnessed all this, hands once again clasped in front of her, not bothering to try and keep her tears from streaming down her face. This was natural to a mother and her children, she knew. Truly had lost her mother at a young age, and so had the Potts children. And even though Truly had never given birth to a child herself, it was clear that she was born to be a mother.

"Is your father here as well?" Clarice asked cautiously, exchanging a look with Truly, whose head shot up at the mention of him. She then lowered her head again to look at the children, both of them resembling their father in so many ways, it felt as if she was holding a piece of him against her breast. Oh how she longed to be in his arms!

"No ma'am," Jeremy replied quietly, turning in Truly's arms to look at the older woman. "He's at home, working on his latest invention. He hasn't been out of there ever since Lord Scrumptious made him rich."

"All was well when Daddy signed the contract for the Woof Sweets," Jemima continued, "but when Daddy walked Lord Scrumptious to his car later that afternoon, they had a talk about something which made them both very mad. Daddy then went to his workplace, and has refused to come to the house to eat or sleep."

'Oh dear," Truly sighed, "that's not good. I wonder what it is they spoke about." She then felt Jemima strengthen her hold on her waist, prompting her to look at her.

"Daddy's been so sad when we came home after bringing you home. When he spoke to Lord Scrumptious, and wanted to sign the contract, he suddenly jumped up and moved towards the door, as if he remembered something and wanted to go and get it. But Lord Scrumptious made him sign the contract first, because he was so eager to leave again, he didn't want to wait any longer. So when Daddy signed it, he said there was something else he wanted to talk about with him, and they went outside, walking towards the fence and Lord Scrumptious' car. I guess Daddy didn't want us to hear about it, but I think Daddy told him about our trip, because I heard him say your name, Truly. But then Lord Scrumptious shook his head and pointed towards the road, and when Daddy said something more, Lord Scrumptious got angry, and so did Daddy. They were speaking in loud voices, and making gestures at each other, but then Lord Scrumptious turned around and sat in his car and his driver drove away, leaving Daddy behind. Daddy just stood there for, I think it was ten minutes, with his hands in his pockets, gazing across the road, before shaking his head and turning around towards his workplace, and he had a really sad look on his face. He disappeared in there and we haven't seen him since."

"So they talked about me, and then they got mad?" Truly frowned, her pretty eyebrows knit together as she moved to stand, both children still pressed against her. "I wonder what it is they talked about," Truly thought aloud, absentmindedly stroking the children's hair.

"We don't know, but the morning after your wedding announcement was in the paper," Jeremy mumbled. Truly gasped and instantly let go of the children, flowing across the room towards her maid, arms outstretched. "Clarice, what do you think? Could it be Caractacus spoke to my father about marrying me?" Taking Clarice's hands in hers, she spun them around, momentarily forgetting the children were there.

"I think there's only one way to find out, my girl," Clarice laughed, winding her arms around her young mistress. Jeremy pulled on Truly's sash then, his eyes large and bright. "Did our Daddy kiss you, Truly?"

Truly blushed, the question caught her off guard. How foolish of her to act in such a way about a man when his children are standing right there next to her! What must they not think of her? Bringing her hands to her cheeks to hide her blushing, she reluctantly shook her head. Jemima's reaction astonished her even more, "That's too bad, because if Daddy _had_ kissed you, you two would _have_ to get married," she said, an innocent look in her eyes. "I don't suppose we could _lie_ about Daddy kissing you, right?"

Clarice shook her head at the mischievous question. "No my child, but there is something else we can do. Come closer, and I'll tell you what we'll do."

 **TBC**


End file.
